Carolina Does It Again / Panthers in control of the NFC West

Ira Miller, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Monday, December 9, 1996

The 49ers' mystique took a beating yesterday. So did the 49ers. Their timing could not have been worse.

Rarely have the 49ers lost a game like this. They lost their poise, setting a team record for penalties. They lost the ball, giving up four turnovers. They might have lost the NFC West title, too, and they almost surely lost any chance at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Moreover, all this occurred just one day before the team's long- planned 50th anniversary "golden gala," which is scheduled for tonight at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. The theme of the year-long celebration has been "winning with class."

Yesterday, the 49ers did neither. They didn't win, and they didn't show much class.

The Carolina Panthers became the first NFL expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in its second year by beating the 49ers 30- 24, thus completing a sweep of the two-game series this season. Despite the defeat, the 49ers also qualified for the playoffs, but Carolina -- which has won five straight games -- now has the inside track on the division title. The 49ers may be forced to play a wild- card game for the first time since 1985.

George Seifert, the San Francisco coach, called the defeat "bitter" and "embarrassing," and the latter was a word heard so often from the 49ers it began to sound like an echo in the locker room.

"In years past, and at most times this year, we played with a certain amount of poise," Seifert said. "For whatever reason, we came unglued. There was too much 'in-your-face' football, too many penalties. We were more involved in being fired-up than we were in playing.

"They looked like the team with the tradition."

Carolina and San Francisco both have 10-4 records. But the Panthers, who beat the 49ers 23-7 in September, would win the division title in case of a tie -- and their two remaining games, against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, both are at home, where they are undefeated.

Further, the Panthers became only the second NFC West team in 16 years -- joining Atlanta in 1991 -- to beat the 49ers twice in the same season.

"It's time for a changing of the guard," said Panthers' linebacker Duane Bickett.

Seifert called it the worst showing, from a poise standpoint, the 49ers have had in his eight years as coach, admitting that was "my responsibility." He called the team's poor pass coverage against second- year quarterback Kerry Collins and his receivers "befuddling," and starting cornerback Tyronne Drakeford was benched before halftime.

The 49ers were penalized 15 times, a team record, for 121 yards. Five of the penalties gave Carolina a first down, and many of the others hampered 49ers' drives. Meanwhile, Collins had by far the best day of his brief career, completing 22 of 37 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns, without throwing an interception.

Seven of the 49ers' penalties were for personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct, and most of the miscreants were veterans, not rookies.

"I don't care how long you've been playing. You've still got lessons to learn," said Seifert.

Linebacker Gary Plummer, an 11-year veteran, was ejected for bumping side judge Laird Hayes and giving the officials what they called "verbal abuse" late in the second quarter. Linebacker Ken Norton, a nine-year veteran, effectively ended the last faint hope when, with 1:08 to go, he was called for a personal foul for head-butting a Carolina player after the 49ers stuffed a third-down run. Without the penalty, which gave the Panthers an automatic first down, they would have had to punt with about a half-minute left.

"They were poised, and we totally self-destructed," said center Jesse Sapolu, the longest-tenured 49ers' player. "Some of the penalties were stupid. It was total selfishness. You can see an offsides penalty from time to time because a guy is anxious.

"But when you go out and have personal fouls because you lost your poise, it's unacceptable."

McDonald said the 49ers talked about the penalties at halftime -- and then went out and did the same things in the second half.

For followers of Bay Area professional football, this was a familiar pattern -- just on the wrong side of the Bay. In fact, when someone began a question to tight end Brent Jones by asking, "Why the 49ers would go out . . ." Jones interrupted and finished the question.

At one point, Bill McPherson, the 49ers' assistant head coach, was sent down from his vantage point in an upstairs coaching booth to the sideline to try to restore calm and order among the players.

"We've never done this since I've been here," said Jones. "We've never acted like this. It was embarrassing. This team's too smart, this organization has too much class to act like that. If we're going to lose, let's lose it on the field. Let's not lose it acting like idiots."

Well, truth be told, the 49ers also lost it on the field.

They played pass defense as if it were their first game together. They made just one sack against a team that was the fifth most- sacked in the league.

Carolina, bear in mind, is not a powerhouse offense. The Panthers' offense ranked 25th in the league before the game and, just last week, failed to make more than one first down on eight of 11 possessions against Tampa Bay while getting inside the 20-yard line only twice.

Yesterday, the Panthers made 22 first downs, and had at least three on five different possessions. They got inside the 49ers' 20-yard line seven times, including five times in a row in the second and third quarters. Still, when John Kasay hooked a 31-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers were within two touchdowns of a victory at 30-17. They got the first one, and with exactly five minutes to go, a 33-yard scramble by Steve Young started what looked like it could be a drive for the second.

Instead, two plays later, on first-and-10 from the Carolina 30- yard line, Young -- who earlier in the second half ended a string of 145 straight passes without an interception -- threw a deliberately high ball to Terrell Owens at the sideline, which glanced off Owens' leaping hands and deflected to former 49ers' cornerback Eric Davis. It was Davis' fifth interception in the last six games.

"I thought I put it in a spot where either Terrell or nobody could get it," Young said. "I tried to put it high and away."

Owens, who did a nice job of running after the catch to turn a short pass into a 46-yard touchdown play in the second quarter, said he should have caught the ball. It would have been an above- average catch if he did, however.

Nonetheless, 4:35 remained, and Carolina was no slam dunk to run out the clock on the 49ers. Against Tampa Bay last week, the Panthers couldn't hold the ball that long on 10 straight drives. But this time they did, with Collins completing two key passes and Norton making the final penalty.

"We've got to get back together as a football team, as a poised, executing football club," Seifert said. "(Carolina) exposed whatever weaknesses and deficiencies we have."